Chapter: 110
After spending a night in his allocated dorm room, the next day arrived.
Kraush was checking his outfit.
The dark blue uniform, beautifully embroidered, was a symbol of a student of Rahelrn Academy’s Liberal Arts Department.
Kraush looked at his reflection in the mirror, feeling rather unimpressed.
After all, it was a sight he had grown quite tired of during his previous academy days.
However, unlike before, Kraush tightened the luxurious navy tie around his neck.
This was a gift from Lilish to celebrate his entrance.
“Kraush, congratulations on your admission.”
The simple message scribbled in her letter spoke volumes of her thoughtfulness.
He knew she must have pondered deeply before writing those few words.
He would cherish it going forward.
[Are you happy to be a student now?]
“Does this face look happy to you?”
[Considering you’ve become a hot topic, you should feel quite joyful.]
The crow from Crimson Garden perched on the window cackled with amusement.
Kraush couldn’t help but feel slightly displeased at that.
“Speaking of which, didn’t you mention there’s another one of your kind at the academy?”
[Indeed, there’s a student here.]
“Who is it?”
[Hehe, I won’t tell. You’ll have to find out yourself.]
Such a peculiar one, indeed.
[Just don’t bring shame to your kind when you get to the academy.]
Now, who would dare to look down on him at this point?
The crow flapped its wings and fluttered away.
Just then, there came a knock-knock at the door.
“Kraush, are you all set?”
“Yeah.”
As Kraush opened the door, he found Alicia waiting, a smile on her face as she held the bag and a thunderstrike.
“You look great in that!”
“Thanks.”
Kraush took the bag from her and tucked the thunderstrike at his waist. The Liberal Arts uniforms had convenient belts to secure your weapons.
With Alicia escorting him, Kraush stepped out of the dorm room. As they walked down the hallway, more students began to emerge from their rooms.
The third floor dormitory, excluding the staff, was entirely male and was now assigned to new students.
Naturally, many were buzzing with excitement for the upcoming entrance ceremony.
The problem was that the instant Kraush passed by, they all froze, quickly making themselves scarce.
“It’s Kraush Valheim!”
“They say he has quite a fearsome personality. Don’t get involved with him.”
“I heard he defeated a professor. Apparently, he provoked her to fight.”
Kraush’s enhanced physical abilities allowed him to overhear their whispers quite clearly.
‘They think they’re being discreet, but I can hear everything, you know.’
However, most of them were not Liberal Arts students. The first-year Liberal Arts students, on the other hand, immediately sealed their lips upon seeing Kraush.
Having witnessed his prowess firsthand, they knew their conversations would be crystal clear to him.
‘Sharp little ones, aren’t they?’
The students of the Liberal Arts Department generally had a bit of a rebellious streak.
So if any of them dared to show their colors, Kraush would have gladly knocked them down, but it seemed unnecessary.
After all, the power dynamics had shifted dramatically during the entrance exam.
“Hey, the popular kid.”
At that moment, Kraush felt a light tap on his shoulder and turned his head.
There stood a familiar face.
Long red hair.
A face that perfectly matched the label of “handsome”.
His crimson uniform symbolizing magic.
Aslan Igret.
The one smitten with spirits.
“Long time no see, Kraush!”
“Aslan.”
Seeing a face he hadn’t encountered in a year made Kraush crack a smile.
He looked tall and handsome now, without the skinny frame he used to have.
“Have you been on a food tour or something?”
“I’ve been eating a lot, especially since Dorothy was trying new dishes, so it was a joy to see her reactions.”
He had that glimmering vibe akin to honey in his eyes, and while it was lovable, Kraush thought, too much mushy love ain’t a pretty sight.
“So, I guess you must be feeling down about being away from your girlfriend?”
“Does it look that way?”
Aslan chuckled at Kraush’s remark.
He pulled back the top of his uniform slightly, revealing a small doll-like figure nestled in his pocket.
Kraush halted, realizing what it was.
“Don’t tell me…”
“Dorothy, this is Kraush!”
Aslan proudly lifted the small hand-waving doll.
Kraush gave Aslan a bewildered look.
What sort of idiot brings a spirit all the way to Rahelrn Academy?
“It’s not the real thing. It’s a replica kind of thing. But we can communicate, so it’s fine.”
“If a professor finds out, it’ll be chaos.”
“I’m confident I won’t get caught.”
Sure, whatever floats your boat.
“Where’s the real one?”
“With my mother.”
But the next line took Kraush by surprise.
Had Aslan reconciled with his mother, Agatha?
Judging by Aslan’s smile, it seemed a lot had happened, but Kraush figured he could catch up later.
“By the way, I heard all about your reputation at the magical department. It was quite shocking.”
“It’s nothing special.”
“For something ‘not special,’ it certainly created quite a commotion.”
As Aslan chuckled, the two of them made their way outside.
They drew quite a bit of attention in the process.
Kraush may have been a standout, but Aslan attracted eyes too.
After all, he was the son of the Red Tower’s Lord of Flame and had a striking appearance.
It was no wonder many students stared at him in awe.
Being by Aslan’s side had Kraush feeling a bit overshadowed.
“Once you get to the Magical Arts building, you’ll be hearing plenty of whispers.”
“It’s tough having a famous friend.”
Conversing happily, they reached the auditorium for the entrance ceremony at the Liberal Arts building.
The seating was designated separately for students of the Liberal Arts and Magical Departments.
So, after a brief exchange of greetings, Kraush and Aslan headed to their respective seats.
Sparsely placed chairs made up the audience.
Whenever Kraush walked in, students stiffened with wide eyes, praying he wouldn’t choose to sit beside them.
Had he stirred up too much chaos?
[Did you catch on now?]
Kraush grimaced at Crimson Garden’s thought probing through his brooch.
Although he felt that perhaps it would be better to bond with those wishing to share a seat next to him, they all seemed too transparent in their intent.
Things were going to get complicated if they had to choose seats now.
At that moment, he spotted a vacant chair.
A mischievous grin formed on his face.
“Is this seat taken?”
“Ah, no…”
As the question was directed to a girl, her body stiffened abruptly.
With black hair that arguably held more ‘bust’ than one would expect for her age.
She was considered quite beautiful from an outside perspective, but for Kraush, it was a face filled with annoyance.
Mary Diana.
She was the girl once deemed a nuisance back in the past.
Upon seeing Kraush, she froze, unable to move.
Ignoring her, Kraush plopped onto the chair.
“Did I get something on my face?”
“N-No, I’m sorry!”
She quickly masked her flustered expression and turned her head away.
Originally, she was meant to take him down during the entrance ceremony.
However, she hadn’t had a chance to fight back and had been utterly defeated.
Kraush had taken down her associate professor, Kairan, after all.
Thanks to that, she expected to be crushed by Sigryn, but fortunately, Sigryn let it slide this time.
It had been an unavoidable situation.
However, Sigryn did add a condition: if she wanted to become a knight next to him, she had to be first amongst the new Liberal Arts students.
On top of that, Sigryn encouraged her to befriend Kraush, as she was ranked second in their department and prettily qualified enough.
Kraush, being a guy, couldn’t say he completely disliked her.
So it was no wonder she had come to the entrance ceremony to solidify that determination of hers.
But who would’ve thought Kraush would sit next to her out of the blue?
She found herself caught off guard for sure.
Regardless, Kraush casually leaned back in his chair.
‘A plan to steal Excel.’
Kraush knew that he shouldn’t judge someone based on memories from his past life.
However, there were exactly three individuals in this world whose evaluations would never change.
Sigryn Epania.
Abella.
Mary Diana.
These three, having also returned, had not fundamentally changed from before.
Since Kraush understood their nature, he had no qualms keeping a distance from them.
As his hand stealthily activated the Black Hood while resting in his pocket, Mary’s dials began to reveal themselves.
Given her reputation, of course there would be four dials appearing.
Strangely enough, one of them was already unlocked.
[Break Mary’s ‘self-esteem’.]
Her once sky-high self-esteem from her past self.
Yet, that self-esteem had been trampled upon after being abandoned by her family and suffering through imprisonment.
Now at risk of being discarded by Sigryn too, she couldn’t possibly hold onto any remaining self-worth.
Instead, Kraush focused on the second dial.
[Defeat Mary with ‘force’.]
Mary Diana, the genius of spear techniques on par with even him.
It was indeed an absurd dial to hold.
In this world, hardly anyone could overpower her.
However, times had changed.
The current Mary had hardly trained during her imprisonment.
Of course, she was still a formidable contender, having ranked second among the Liberal Arts students.
Yet, considering her original abilities, she would fall short now.
This meant she would strive to recover her lost strength while in the academy.
In other words…
‘The time is ripe.’
He needed an opportunity to subdue Mary through force once for a chance to break the other two dials.
Then, he could swipe her skill, Excel.
With this conclusion, Kraush couldn’t help but smile to himself.
Meanwhile, more new students were entering and taking their seats.
For some reason, seats around Kraush filled up slowly.
The poor souls didn’t dare to approach him.
“Um, excuse me.”
At that moment, Kraush heard Mary’s voice and glanced her way.
She was holding an imperial chocolate bar from her pocket.
“Want to have one while we wait for the entrance ceremony?”
She forced a friendly smile. Unlike her usual demeanor, she was attempting to connect as a peer without using honorifics.
Had this been anyone else, they might have been enchanted by her face.
But for Kraush, he barely managed to suppress his disgust.
He simply stared at the chocolate, responding, “I absolutely detest sweets.”
In all honesty, Kraush was quite averse to sugary foods.
[That guy consumes everything served to him.]
Crimson Garden was baffled by his response, but he meant what he said.
“Oh, I see?”
Mary blinked, fetching her hand back cautiously.
Then whispered, “…It’s dark chocolate, though.”
As she shrank back from his rejection, someone finally dared to take a seat beside Kraush.
By sheer necessity of seating arrangements according to the number of new students, one had to sit.
“Hello there?”
The moment she sat down, the girl beside him spoke up.
‘What nerve to greet someone in this situation?’
Kraush quickly acknowledged who it was.
With a deep, rich dark hair contrasting her healthy skin, her features exuded a regal aura.
Her fierce gaze and black pupils held a certain confident allure.
Starla was home to the powerful Valheim family, while Freiman held its renowned saint.
Zeblum was where the Magic Emperor reigned unrivaled.
Among these four nations, Poseus was the only maritime kingdom with the ‘Golden Line’ that spanned across continents.
Poseus was rumored to be thriving thanks to cross-continental trade, similar to the Empire.
This was the ninth princess of Poseus.
Karandis Poseus.
“Princess Karandis of Poseus.”
“Oh my, it’s an honor that Kraush Valheim remembers me.”
Kraush didn’t feel particularly welcoming towards her.
After all, this girl was here to find a potential husband among the students of Rahelrn Academy.
The king of Poseus was quite the lecher.
His concubines continued to pop out children even at the verge of the kingdom’s collapse.
Currently, the king’s offspring was fifteen years old.
As the ninth princess, her chances for succession were slim to none.
So, she had reevaluated her strategy.
Being unable to spread her wings in Poseus, she needed to select a good match to marry off to.
Though it wasn’t terribly likely back in the day, now that Kraush had made headlines during the entrance exam, it made perfect sense that her gaze would fall upon him.
In an instant, Karandis shuffled her chair closer to Kraush.
She began to subtly lean her breast against him.
“Oh, I’m so sorry. This seat is a bit cramped, so I’m leaning over a little.”
What utter nonsense.
Even if she had no claim to the throne, would a princess really play such a pathetic card?
“By the way, Kraush, I was deeply impressed watching your fight against Kairan. Along with Charlotte Valheim, it makes me wonder how all Valheims are so strong.”
She flashed a wry smile while continuing to shove her chest toward him.
Kraush regarded her with a piercing stare before speaking up.
“Please refrain from pushing forward. My arm is getting heavy.”
“Y-Yes?”
Karandis’s expression shifted to one of shock at Kraush’s bluntness.
Beside her, Mary flinched slightly, pulling her arms together, as if to shield herself from being brushed aside by Kraush.
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